P2P 'giveaway' platform Instamojo raises angel funding from Rajan Anandan, Sunil Kalra

Mumbai-based Urbanpotion Technologies Pvt Ltd, a tech startup running Instamojo – a P2P platform that enables one to give away unused stuff by sharing a unique link – has raised undisclosed angel funding from Rajan Anandan, an active angel investor and currently the managing director of Google India, and Sunil Kalra of Indian Angel Network (IAN).

Confirming the funding to Techcircle.in, Kalra said, "Instamojo is a very early-stage startup where we have invested a small amount. We met their team, were convinced it's a good idea and decided to invest."

But how does Instamojo work? A user has to list the stuff he/she wants to give away and Instamojo, in turn, creates a page for the posting. The unique link of the page can be shared then with friends, fans and followers. When someone interested claims it, the owner gets an intimation e-mail and can give it away. Only last week, the company announced its launch in public beta through its blog post. The platform is available for users across the world.

One can upload an offer for free, be it a physical product or sharing one's skills via scheduling a time-based event. In order to start off, you need to register via Facebook and go to the dashboard where you will be able to upload the product and schedule the timing. The company will also arrange regular meet-ups so that people can collect the things they have claimed.

Instamojo has further expansion plans and users can soon start selling digital creations like e-books, music, videos, reports, blog posts, digital illustrations, software and more on this platform.

The company was set up earlier this year by a team of four – Sampad Swain, Aditya Sengupta, Akash Gehani and Harshad Sharma.

An MBA from IBS Hyderabad, Swain had previously worked for ITC and Godrej. He had also co-founded WanaMo.com, which was acquired by the Smile Group and later got rebranded as Dealsandyou.

A B.Tech from Veermata Jijabai Technological University of Mumbai, Sengupta was a Junior Research Fellow at IIT Bombay, an administrator for BarCamp Mumbai and the Mumbai Python Users Group.

A passout from MDI (Gurgaon), Gehani had worked for General Electric, WNS Global Services, Swain's WanaMo and ICICI Lombard. On the other hand, Sharma had previously co-founded oCricket.com, a socio-networked application for an instant flash of all cricketing news across the world.

(Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal)